TD Cowen Downgrades Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS) to Hold

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS - Get Free Report) was downgraded by TD Cowen from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a note issued to investors on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $264.00 price objective on the closed-end fund's stock, down from their previous price objective of $285.00. TD Cowen's price target would suggest a potential upside of 10.17% from the company's previous close.

VRTS has been the subject of a number of other reports. Piper Sandler upped their target price on Virtus Investment Partners from $264.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. StockNews.com upgraded Virtus Investment Partners from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, March 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Virtus Investment Partners from $170.00 to $199.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research report on Friday, January 19th.

Virtus Investment Partners Price Performance

VRTS traded down $1.74 during trading on Monday, hitting $239.64. The stock had a trading volume of 40,255 shares, compared to its average volume of 53,710. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $237.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $218.86. The firm has a market cap of $1.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.53 and a beta of 1.52. Virtus Investment Partners has a one year low of $165.00 and a one year high of $263.39.

Virtus Investment Partners (NASDAQ:VRTS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Friday, February 2nd. The closed-end fund reported $6.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $5.96 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $214.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $196.20 million. Virtus Investment Partners had a return on equity of 18.83% and a net margin of 15.45%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $5.17 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Virtus Investment Partners will post 26.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Virtus Investment Partners

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of VRTS. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Virtus Investment Partners by 44.9% in the 3rd quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 171 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Virtus Investment Partners by 82.1% in the 1st quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 153 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd increased its holdings in Virtus Investment Partners by 1,937.5% in the 1st quarter. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd now owns 163 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Virtus Investment Partners by 550.0% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 182 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in Virtus Investment Partners by 495.4% in the 1st quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 387 shares of the closed-end fund's stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 322 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 80.52% of the company's stock.

Virtus Investment Partners Company Profile

Virtus Investment Partners, Inc is a publicly owned investment manager. The firm primarily provides its services to individual and institutional clients. It launches separate client focused equity and fixed income portfolios. The firm launches equity, fixed income, and balanced mutual funds for its clients.